Artist answers U.S. Navy's call

Kelsey, 70, was commissioned to create a 12-inch angel statue for the Navy's USS Sterett by the Sterett Association, thanks to Google search of her first name.

"The association was looking for everyone in the country with the name Sterett, spelled with one 'r,' to invite to the commissioning of the USS Sterett" on Saturday, Kelsey said from her Roxbury studio.

"Kent Sterett, a member of the association, found me. We talked. And our discussion led to my sculpting an angel statute to go on the ship."

Kelsey, an internationally renown sculptor whose unusual first name is a combination of family surnames, will attend the commissioning ceremony for the USS Sterett in Baltimore. She will read a letter she wrote to U.S. troops after the World Trade Center attack, and the letter will be installed with the statue on the ship.

"Creating the angel statue goes back 20 years," Kelsey said. "When the plane was bombed over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988, I created an angel statue and sent it to a memorial garden that had been established in Lockerbie.

"Three men from the town where I was living at the time had been killed in the bombing."

The angel's name is Joy. She is a symbol of love, hope, joy and peace -- all of which freedom makes possible, Kelsey said.

Kelsey told Kent Sterett about the angel and he asked her to create a replica for the Navy ship. She also told him about the love letter she had written to the troops and he asked if a copy of the letter could be included with the statue.

"Sterett Kelsey is a very well-known artist in the arena of brass artists," Kent Sterett said. "If you were looking for a brass guardian angel for a ship, who would you assign the task? Especially when she was named after the lieutenant and family that the USS Sterett ships have all been named after."

The USS Sterett is a $1.3 billion warship, the fourth ship the Navy has commissioned with the name of Lt. Andrew Sterett (1778-1807), who had an illustrious career. The first ship he served on was the USS Constellation.

The Sterett Association is comprised of men and women who have served on Navy ships with this name, and the lieutenant's extended family members who carry the name.

"I wrote the letter to the troops, titled 'Love Letter From Home,'" Sterett-Gittings Kelsey said, "after 9/11 because I wanted our troops to know they were loved and supported by the people back home. I was tired of reading negative things about our troops and our country in the papers.

"Whatever you think about the war, our young men and women serving in the armed forces need our love and support."

Kelsey was raised in Baltimore. She graduated from Rhode Island School of Design in 1964 with a bachelor's of fine arts degree in sculpture. She works primarily in bronze, with works ranging from 3 inches to 14 feet in height. Her pieces are in more than 300 public and private collections worldwide.

Learn more about her Roxbury studio at Kelsey Sculpture.com.

Contact Susan Tuz

at stuz@newstimes.com

or (203) 731-3352.

Sterett-Gittings Kelsey's letter to U.S. troops will be installed on the USS Sterett, a Navy ship to be commissioned Saturday in Baltimore, Md.